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Revelation 2:18-29 – The Church at Thyatira
(Rev. Barry Johnson and Rev. Rodney Johnson)
Introduction:
Hello everyone. This is lesson five in our study of the seven churches of Asia from the Book of Revelation. In this lesson, we will examine the message that Jesus sent to the church at Thyatira. Let’s begin with a word of prayer.
Thyatira was originally founded by Alexander the Great as a military garrison. His soldiers worshiped the god, Apollo, known as the sun god. Thyatira was an average town but had major commodities that drove its prosperity. Its lead commodity was textiles. The city’s water also was so rich in minerals that no place in the world could make a red textile so brilliant and so bold. The textile was desired worldwide. Lydia, who met Paul in Philippi and there accepted Christ, was a seller of purple – from Thyatira. The city’s bronze-smiths were famous and the silversmiths made some of the best silver pieces in the world. Its pottery also was coveted.
The entire social, industrial, and religious structure of Thyatira was built around the guilds. Every craft had its own guild and they were more than labor unions. They were the heart of the city’s social function, their religious function, as well as their work. Thyatira was a closed-shop town. For example, if you were an electrician, but you were not a member of the electricians’ guild, you could not work in Thyatira. The same was true if you were skilled in bronze or silver. No matter how good you were – you could be the very best – but if you were not a member of that guild, you could not work in Thyatira.
Periodically, the guilds would hold great festivals for all of their members. The problem for Christians living in the city was that these festivals were held in the temple to Apollo, who as I mentioned earlier, was the patron of the military garrison and the guilds. During the festivals, they would worship Apollo, eat, fellowship, and involve themselves in sexual immorality. Guild members who did not participate in the festival would lose their jobs and their livelihoods. So, what was a Christian supposed to do? Many would say the answer is complicated. Rodney, would Jesus agree with that assessment?
Rodney: No, Jesus would not agree with that statement. As we get into what Jesus said to this Church that will become very clear. So let’s get started.
Verses 18-20:
“And to the angel of the church in Thyatira write: the Son of God, Who has eyes like a flame of fire, and His feet are like burnished bronze, says this: (19) I know your deeds, and your love and faith and service and perseverance, and that your deeds of late are greater than at first. (20) 'But I have this against you, that you tolerate the woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, and she teaches and leads My bond-servants astray so that they commit acts of immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols.”
The Son of God…. This is the first time that the name of the speaker is referred to. In each of the other letters, only some attribute of the Savior is mentioned. Here, possibly because of the severity of what was to come, John was led to ensure they knew who was speaking to them. When he writes, “Who has eyes like a flame of fire…” it demonstrates that His eyes are light and nothing can be concealed from His view. Remember, light chases away darkness and the two cannot exist in the same space. Jesus’ eyes see all of their good and bad works. So when Jesus commends them, He lets them know upfront that their current works were better than before. In other words, they were demonstrating improvement.
In His words to this Church, Jesus does not talk of removing their candlestick but instead recognizes the growing effectiveness of His servants. He commends them by saying, “I know your deeds, and your love and faith and service and perseverance, and that your deeds of late are greater than at first.” The church in Ephesus was best at first and worst at last, but Thyatira's last works were best – they had improved.
This is a lesson that all Christians should take away from this Church – we should ever be striving to grow stronger in every aspect of our Christian walk so it can be said that our last works were greater than our first works. That testimony says that we did not decrease in our walk or our service, but maintained and/or increased what we were doing for Christ through our walk with Him. This is the report that we should hope to receive. When this Church heard this I am sure they were joyous as this would have made this church extremely proud. However, their joyous celebration would be short-lived because of what follows next.
Jesus then tells them in verse twenty, “But I have this against you, that you tolerate the woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, and she teaches and leads My bond-servants astray so that they commit acts of immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols.”
Let’s talk for a moment about Jezebel. Jezebel was the daughter of Ethbaal of Tyre and the wife of Ahab, King of Israel, according to the Book of First Kings. First Kings 16:30-32 says, “Ahab the son of Omri did evil in the sight of the LORD more than all who were before him. (31) It came about, as though it had been a trivial thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, that he married Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal king of the Sidonians, and went to serve Baal and worshiped him. (32) So he erected an altar for Baal in the house of Baal which he built in Samaria.”
Through this unholy union, Jezebel became Israel's Queen and along with her husband, instituted the worship of Baal on a national scale. In addition, she violently purged the prophets of God from Israel and brought 800 of Baal’s prophets to Israel. At this major moment, Elijah appeared and prophesied that a terrible drought would come upon Israel. Amazingly, famine and drought spread across Jezebel's land.
One final point about Jezebel. The story of Naboth is perhaps the best-known story of Jezebel's life. In First Kings chapter twenty-one, Naboth, a common landowner who lived close to the King's residence, was asked to give his land to King Ahab in exchange for some compensation. Naboth refused to give up his family's ancestral land. Incited by Naboth's refusal to King Ahab, Jezebel falsely charged him with treason and blaspheming God and the king, and had him condemned to death by stoning. She then took his plot of land for the king. At this point, Elijah arrived and confronted King Ahab about this brutal transgression, and then predicted that Ahab and all of his heirs would be killed. He also prophesied Jezebel’s death and dogs would eat her remains. Jezebel was so evil that she is symbolically associated with false prophets as we see here in the Church of Thyatira.
Now back to what Jesus said to this church. Jesus said, “You tolerate the woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess…” This Church was negligent in its duty of reproving, censuring, and excommunicating vile seducers such as this false prophet who was referenced as Jezebel. Remember, the original Jezebel enticed Ahab to worship Baal and this woman, whoever she was, was doing the same and calling herself a prophetess. Now, don't limit the Jezebel referred to in this passage as a woman. A "Jezebel" can be anyone, a woman or a man, who leads the Church away from the truth of the gospel.
The sin of these seducers (as she was not alone) was that they attempted to draw the servants of God into fornication and to offer sacrifices to idols. There was also an increase in the interest of forbidden things and the regard for the word of God was being weakened. The teaching spread that self-indulgence was nobler than self-denial, and more in accordance with the freedom of the gospel. Does this not sound like what we are experiencing today? This prophetess and those partnering with her led her devotees into what they loved to call the “deeper aspects” of life and morals.
I want to note at this point that the Church as a whole is not charged with complicity in this teaching nor is the pastor accused of sharing in the doctrine. But it is charged against him that he tolerated it, and both he and the Church are warned of their neglect of duty. We must understand that the Pastor(s) is charged with guarding the Church against any teaching/conduct that goes against the Word of God and in this case, the pastor had failed. His failure caused members of the Church to be persuaded to sin against God. Barry, why don’t you take the next few verses?
Verses 21-23:
“I gave her time to repent, and she does not want to repent of her immorality. (22) Behold, I will throw her on a bed of sickness, and those who commit adultery with her into great tribulation, unless they repent of her deeds. (23) And I will kill her children with pestilence, and all the churches will know that I am He who searches the minds and hearts, and I will give to each one of you according to your deeds.”
Rodney, I think it’s interesting that Jesus identifies the person who is acting like the Jezebel of the Old Testament as a prophetess. It reminds me of the lesson about the church at Ephesus where Jesus identifies those who say they were apostles but were liars. This person called herself a prophetess. As you and I talked about in the lesson on the church at Ephesus, it seems that Christians too readily accept people who have “titles”.
“And I gave her time to repent of her sexual immorality, and she did not repent” – In our notes, I have underlined the word “repent” which appears twice in this verse. As Rodney and I talked about in the introduction to this study of the seven churches, a heart of repentance is crucial if we are going to have a true and meaningful relationship with Jesus. Again, in the lesson on the church at Ephesus, Rodney said the word “repent” means “to stop, turn around, and go in another direction.”
As I thought about this as it relates to Jezebel, the phrase “gave her time” jumped out. We know that one of the defining characteristics of Jesus (God) is that He is longsuffering and we see this in Second Peter 3:9. “The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish all should come to repentance.” There were elders in the church who had reached out to her and pointed out that what she was teaching was not biblically sound. But instead of repenting, she dug in her heels and refused. Today, many in the Church are receiving time to repent and are refusing to do so. They are living in ways that do not agree with what Jesus has said in the Bible and don’t believe it’s wrong or that it matters.
Jesus says He gave her time to repent of her “sexual immorality”. Symbolically, sexual immorality represents idolatry, the forsaking of the true God in order to worship a false god. In the Introduction, I mentioned the festivals that the different guilds held to honor Apollo. They included eating lavish meals and engaging in all sorts of sexual immorality. Could it be that this person was teaching people that they could participate in these festivals because the job required it and because she was participating in them herself?
But the real issue Jesus had was that she was leading His people into “spiritual immorality”. Jesus is married to His Church and He’s coming back “That he might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish.” (Ephesians 5:27) All immorality is unfaithfulness to one’s spouse and this “Jezebel” was teaching the people to be unfaithful to their husband, Jesus. Teaching people to compromise by looking out for #1 to make life easier is a huge problem for Jesus and that is what we’re seeing here in Thyatira and the Church today.
The Amplified Bible paints a more complete image of this verse. “I gave her time to repent, but she has no desire to repent of her immorality [symbolic of idolatry] and refuses to do so.” (Revelation 2:21, Amplified Bible) “Indeed I will cast her into a sickbed, and those who commit adultery with her into great tribulation, unless they repent of their deeds.”
In scripture, sickness and a bed are symbols of affliction and punishment. Psalm 41:3 is one example. “The Lord will strengthen him on his bed of illness; You will sustain him on his sickbed.” Jesus says Jezebel’s teachings were causing sickness to spread throughout the church and He will cast her into a sickbed because she refuses to repent. In other words, she has made her bed. And, not only that, the people who help her lead the people astray – “commit adultery with her” – Jesus says He will cast them into “great tribulation.” Jesus makes it very clear. Those who teach His Church to sin and who refuse to repent, He will have no choice but to let them suffer the consequences of their sin. And here’s a warning: Jesus will hold the pastor who does not address sinful behavior from the pulpit responsible for allowing sickness to spread in His people.
“I will kill her children with death” – Jesus is being very, very direct here. For those who teach the church to sin, to live as an unfaithful bride to Him, Jesus says they will burn in the lake of fire for all eternity.
“and all the churches shall know that I am He who searches the minds and hearts. And I will give to each one of you according to your works” – When I read this I stopped. The gravity of what Jesus says astounds me. The word “searches” means “to investigate, explore.” In the lesson on Psalm 23, we talked about David being a man after God’s own heart. God had searched his heart and knew that David would be a king who would protect Israel. In Thyatira, Jesus had searched the minds and hearts of Jezebel and those who helped her deceive the people and gave them their reward “according to your works” – an eternity in the lake of fire. Each of us needs to take heed to this warning. When we stand before Jesus on our day of judgment, we will receive “what’s coming to us” based on what we have and have not done for Him in this life.
Rodney, how much clearer can the Bible be? The choices we make in this life, especially regarding how much we value our relationship with Jesus, will be rewarded – either with an eternity in heaven or with an eternity in the lake of fire.
Barry, you are absolutely correct. Everything we are reading is about choices and we must make the correct choice while we still have time.
Let’s continue with verses 24 & 25.
“But I say to you, the rest who are in Thyatira, who do not hold this teaching, who have not known the deep things of Satan, as they call them, I place no other burden on you. (25) Nevertheless what you have, hold fast until I come.”
It is interesting that these seducers called their doctrines “depths of profound mysteries” which excited the people. People are always excited to hear something new and mysterious, especially if it makes living “religiously” easier. In other words, teachings that release us of our obligations to live by the Word of God choosing instead some “modified, false, enlightened” version of the Word that will lead to hell. Their ultimate goal then, as it is today, was to persuade them that they had a deeper insight into the spiritual realm than their pastors/ministers had attained.
As they spoke; those seducers call their doctrine “deep things and great mysteries that have been revealed to them”; as if they were the deep things of God according to what Paul wrote in First Corinthians 2:10. He wrote, “For to us God revealed them through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God.” These seducers would pretend their doctrines were deep things but Christ calls them the devil's mysteries; the deep things of Satan.
Again, we see this happening in Churches across the world today. Satan plants men and women in the body of Christ who sow seeds of discord to move people away from solid teaching. They proclaim to have a revelation from God that no one else has and oftentimes their revelation contradicts something that the pastoral leadership is teaching. While they are trying to portray themselves as having deeper spiritual knowledge, Jesus said that their knowledge is from the depths of Satan. I doubt that these people knew they were being used by Satan. They probably believe that God was giving them “new” revelation that was specific to their ministry.
It is a dangerous thing to despise the true mystery of God while openly receiving the mysteries of Satan – regardless of the source vehicle those mysteries come through. Paul told Timothy in First Timothy 6:20-21, “O Timothy, guard what has been entrusted to you, avoiding worldly and empty chatter and the opposing arguments of what is falsely called "knowledge" (21) which some have professed and thus gone astray from the faith…..”
Finally, Jesus says to those who have not adopted those false teachings, “I place no other burden on you.” Jesus tells His faithful servants to hold on until He returns. Christ is coming to put an end to all the temptations of His people (us); and, if we hold fast to the faith until He comes then all the difficulty and dangers we experience will be over. But we must do our part and hold on until He returns.
Verses 26-29:
(26) He who overcomes, and he who keeps My deeds until the end, to him I will give authority over the nations; (27) and he shall rule them with a rod of iron, as the vessels of the potter are broken into pieces, as I also have received authority from My Father; (28) and I will give him the morning star. (29) He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”
Verse 26-27:
"He who overcomes, and keeps My deeds until the end, to him I will give authority over the nations” – The word “keeps” means “to guard, protect.” Keeping everything that we’ve read in context, Jesus says that Christians who are victorious, guard His Words and make decisions based on His Word and not on their emotions (Psalm 110:11), will not succumb to teachings that allow us to live “our truths” when they disagree with “God’s Truth.” Jesus says we will have authority over the nations – in the end. Who has that authority right now? Satan. In the end, he will be stripped of his authority and it will be given to those who have overcome and kept Jesus deeds.
"And he shall rule them with a rod of iron, as the vessels of the potter are broken into pieces, as I also have received authority from My Father” – In this verse, Jesus tells us how we will use that authority and it’s found in the word “rule”, which means “to tend as a shepherd, to rule with severity.” Again, keeping everything in context, the ones who will shepherd the nations, because they follow the Chief Shepherd, will be uncompromising when it comes to people being held accountable to the truth of God’s Word. No exceptions. That’s why they will rule with “a rod of iron.” And we know from scripture that a potter can take what’s broken, reshape it, and make it whole! That will be the role of these shepherds – to make people’s lives whole again! Praise God!
Verses 28-29
(28) and I will give him the morning star. (29) He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”
Jesus said, “…I will give him the morning star.” This is the reward for those who overcome; those who persevere. Christ is the morning star. He brings day with Him into the soul; the light of grace and glory; and He will give His people that perfection of light and wisdom which is required for the dominion that we shall have in the morning of the resurrection. This epistle ends with the usual demand of attention: “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” In the foregoing epistles, this demand of attention comes before the concluding promise; but in this, and all that follow, it comes after, and tells us that we should all attend to the promises as well as to the precepts that Christ delivers to the churches.
Close:
We have covered a lot of information in this lesson today. What we want to leave you with is this: you must know what the Bible says. It is important that you know and understand what is being taught in your Church by your leaders. Good people who are led astray are not led astray because they are choosing to rebel against God. No, oftentimes it’s because they have not gotten into the Bible themselves to find out what it says and this has produced a lack of knowledge. Hosea 4:6 says, “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge….” It is our responsibility to know what God’s word says so that whenever we are confronted with false teachers of His word we will recognize them for what they are false prophets. We hope that this comes through in this lesson.
Let’s pray….
